Kirby Smart, Georgia prove Lane Kiffin wrong

One debate that’s been going on all season long is the comparison of the SEC and Big Ten’s strength of schedule to the ACC and Big 12. The other conferences have tried to prop themselves up on the level of the SEC and Big Ten, but neither conference has been willing to give the ACC or Big 12 the benefit of the doubt.

So all throughout the season, especially while the College Football Playoff rankings have been released, SEC fans haven’t understood why their teams aren’t getting more credit for their supposedly more difficult schedules.

And the latest SEC coach to speak publically about this is Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.

“It’s ridiculous, the difference of playing in the SEC and the ACC and Big 12,” Kiffin shared. “To think that you’re looking at schools and you’re talking about, like, Clemson’s schedule and who they played over Alabama. It’s stupid. I’m not gonna name them. Take some of those teams that are up there that haven’t played anybody and put them down in the SEC, they’re .500 teams.”

Maybe the ACC is better than people think

Kiffin’s whole point in saying this was to try and get others to realize how much more difficult the SEC is compared to the ACC or even Big 12. And for the longest time, I think Georgia football fans were a believer in that as well.

But Georgia’s game against Georgia Tech immediately proved Kiffin’s point wrong.

Georgia has a chance to win the SEC Championship next weekend. They also have already beaten a lot of the top teams in the conference like Texas and Tennessee. So when Georgia was heading into their game against an average ACC team like the Yellow Jackets, the expectation was for them to win easily.

That clearly did not happen.

Sure Georgia ended up beating Georgia Tech on Friday night, but most would agree that they were fortunate to do so. The Yellow Jackets led 17-0 at halftime, and were in position to win late in the fourth quarter too. Also, fact that an average ACC team was able to force overtime against the potential SEC Champions is telling enough.

At the end of the day, Georgia is just relieved that they won this game. But this close win shows that what Kiffin said is wrong, and maybe the ACC and Big 12 deserve more credit.